Calculating Amount of Protein Per Meal

Many people struggle with calculating protein content correctly and often assume certain foods are better protein sources than they actually are. If you're serious about hitting your nutrition goals—whether for muscle gain, fat loss, or general health—you need to understand how to measure protein intake accurately.

Today, let’s break it down step by step, using peanut butter as an example, and explore how to build well-balanced vegan meals with enough protein.

The Peanut Butter Protein Myth

Peanut butter is a popular food among fitness enthusiasts, but is it really a great protein source? Let’s compare two types: regular peanut butter and defatted peanut butter powder.

Nutritional Comparison

Product	Serving Size	Calories	Protein (g)	Carbs (g)	Fat (g)
Regular Peanut Butter	32g (2 tbsp)	180	7	8	15
Defatted Peanut Butter Powder	16g (2 tbsp)	70	8	5	2

At first glance, it might seem like defatted peanut butter powder is 50% protein (8g protein per 16g serving), but that’s an incorrect way to calculate it.

How to Calculate Protein Percentage Correctly

To find the actual percentage of calories coming from protein, we use this formula:

 

Defatted Peanut Butter Powder:

• Protein calories: 8g × 4 = 32 calories

• Total calories: 70

• Protein percentage: (32 ÷ 70) × 100 = 45% protein

Regular Peanut Butter:

• Protein calories: 7g × 4 = 28 calories

• Total calories: 180

• Protein percentage: (28 ÷ 180) × 100 = 15% protein

What Does This Mean?

For a food to be considered a solid protein source, at least 50% of its calories should come from protein. This means that while defatted peanut butter powder is a decent protein source, regular peanut butter is mostly a fat source.

Building High-Protein Vegan Meals

To hit your protein targets, you need to combine foods strategically. Here are some examples of balanced, high-protein vegan meals:

Breakfast: Protein-Packed Tofu Scramble

• 150g tofu (15g protein)

• 1 tbsp nutritional yeast (3g protein)

• ½ cup chickpeas (7g protein)

• 1 slice whole-grain toast (4g protein)

• Total protein: ~29g

Lunch: High-Protein Buddha Bowl

• 1 cup quinoa (8g protein)

• ½ cup edamame (9g protein)

• ½ cup black beans (7g protein)

• 1 tbsp tahini dressing (2g protein)

• Total protein: ~26g

Dinner: Lentil & Tempeh Stir-Fry

• 100g tempeh (20g protein)

• ½ cup lentils (9g protein)

• 1 cup stir-fried vegetables (3g protein)

• 1 tsp sesame seeds (1g protein)

• Total protein: ~33g

The examples above are just from whole foods since I assume there's not much use in writing an article that suggests to eat salad and a protein shake to "hit vegan protein goals". We all drink protein shakes as a supplement already if we don't have time, or are on the go.

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